The universities have hardly increased the offer of their university degrees, but the number of students who take the university entrance exams (PAU, EBAU or EVAU) is greater than in other years, more than a thousand more, which, hypothetically, it can raise the cut marks of some highly demanded careers.
This will depend on the choice of grades made by the young people who next week take the PAU, since the cut-off mark arises from the relationship between the offer of places in the degree and the demand for applicants each year.
The procedure for awarding places is based on a very intense calendar. Young people choose the degree studies and submit their application, which is called the university pre-registration process, between June 6 and 30. The results of the PAU that will take place next week (June 7, 8 and 9) will be announced on June 22, before the Sant Joan festival. From there, the average between the baccalaureate and the PAU will know their admission grade, counting on the optional subjects to which they have been submitted (which reaches 14).
The first allocation of places is scheduled for July 12. From there, a reassignment process begins with the vacancies of the students who do not enroll, and which cause the cut-off grade to vary downward. For example, Medicine at the UB ClÃnic Campus set the cut-off mark at 13,240 in the first assignment and the last student who was able to enroll, weeks later, had a mark of 12,809.
The good news in the face of the pressure of the demographic increase is that precisely the Medicine degree, which is one of the degrees most in demand and with the highest cut-off mark, has substantially increased the number of places in the first year. The bad news is that they have been reduced in Psychology and Political Science, also popular.
In total, in this edition of the PAU, 41,671 students have applied to enroll, which means an increase of 1,108 more students than the previous year, when 40,563 did. It is true that 39,767 later took the tests. therefore there is a drop in students between pre-registration and taking the exam.
The demographic density of this cohort of young people in recent years, which has been so noticeable in secondary and high school in recent years, will end up having an impact on cut-off grades, since these are established based on supply and demand . It does not affect most degrees, since they have a sufficient offer at a Catalan public university, but in a certain group of careers, the university entrance mark counts to a greater extent.
Thus, for five years and until now, the increase in young people who want to go to university has been progressive: 34,553 (2019), 39,914 (2020), 39,800 (2021), 40,563 (2022) and 41,671 (2023).
This year, there has been a special increase in young people who come from Vocational Training (FP), which in total is 4,191, more than 400 compared to last year. In proportion, the increase is higher than that of high school.
Vocational training students will only be assessed for the specific phase (the optional subjects to take a grade, which the faculties assess to enter the degree). The grade for the general phase, essential for students coming from high school, is the result of the FP cycle.
Regarding high school students, 32,698 present themselves this year, almost 600 more than the previous year. And a third minority group, that of free enrollment, amounts to 4,742, with a slight increase compared to 2022.
The 1,100 students with the best marks will enter Medicine at any of the Catalan campuses, this is 126 more than the previous year. There are also more places in other specialties such as Design from the UB (10 places) or Technical Architecture and Building from the Polytechnic (UPC) which wins 10 or ADE Tourism from the University of Lleida (UdL) which doubles its capacity, according to information from the Unportal Education platform.
There is also more engineering on offer at the UPC.
On the other hand, the places in Psychology are reduced, a career highly demanded by students and with high labor insertion. The UB has reduced its offer from 480 to 432, 58 fewer places. The same campus has reduced those of Chemistry by 20 places. Another bad news is the reduction of 20 places in the Political Science and Administration studies at Pompeu Fabra.
How the PAUs will be carried out
The Department of Research and Universities informs of the procedure that this year is no different from previous editions (the model for the next academic year 2023-2024 is pending a decree that the Spanish Government must publish and that it has already announced that the Executive branch will do so of the next general elections).
The PAUs are divided into two phases: the general phase, which is compulsory for high school students, and consists of a total of five exams, and the specific phase, which is voluntary for all student profiles and serves to raise grades.
In the general phase, students are examined in four common subjects (Catalan language and literature, Spanish language and literature, Foreign language, and History) and one subject to choose from among the common subjects of the baccalaureate (Fundamentals of the Arts, Latin , Mathematics or Mathematics applied to the Social Sciences).
Students who obtain an average of 5 between the high school grade and the grade obtained in the general phase of the tests will have passed the PAU and, therefore, will have a grade for university access.
In this calculation, the high school grade has a value of 60%, while the general phase has a value of 40%, provided that the student obtains a minimum grade of 4 in the average of the five exams that make up the general phase.
In the specific phase, which can be carried out by both baccalaureate students and those from higher education training cycles, students can take an exam in up to three modality subjects that they choose from among 22 subjects.
With the two best grades, once weighted, the admission grade is calculated, which can reach 14 points. The weighting is carried out according to the subjects related to the studies that they want to study and for a subject to be weighted it must have been qualified with a grade equal to or greater than 5 points.
The validity of the qualification obtained in the general phase of the PAU is indefinite. Regarding the grades obtained in the subjects examined as a specific phase, they expire after two years.
On the other hand, in the university pre-registration process – which determines access to the chosen university studies – the subject of the modality examined in the general phase will also be taken into account in the weighting of the specific phase. Therefore, students can be examined in up to three subjects in the specific phase, but they will have up to four marks to ponder, from which the two best marks will be chosen.
